'I'm gay and a boy band!' | Stephen Gately | The Guardian

Contents:

• BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER
• AMERI’S GOT TALENT DNS “THE WORLD’S GAYT BOY BAND”
• AMERI’S FIRST ALL OPENLY GAY BOY BAND RELEASE DEBUT SGLE
• 'I'M GAY AND A BOY BAND!'

BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER

The mastream populary of boy bands wtern mic almost ensur that one or two members of each group intifi as gay, bisexual or queer. Most out gay boy band members talk about their early reer days of havg dual personas - the public heterosexual teen male, and the private gay dividual - creatg an thenticy paradox. There have been sporadic attempts to create succsful all-gay boy bands to ter to the LGBTQ dance club crowd.

Neverthels, there is a group of notable boy band members who publicly intify as gay, bisexual or queer. This week on Ameri’s Got Talent, jt time for Pri Month, Cowell and his fellow judg dned The Other Directn, a group that bills self as “the world’s gayt boy band.

“We ma a pact that when we turned 21, we would e together and form the world’s gayt boy band, and here we are! An spirg gay pelin uple has stayed together for nearly two s.

AMERI’S GOT TALENT DNS “THE WORLD’S GAYT BOY BAND”

For as long there have been boy bands, there have been gay or bisexual boy band members. Sger Dunn Jam, who has a dghter wh an ex-girliend, first me out as bisexual 2009 but later clarified that he is gay, acknowledgg a Brish TV documentary that he had a three-year relatnship wh one of Blue's hunky male backup dancers.

AMERI’S FIRST ALL OPENLY GAY BOY BAND RELEASE DEBUT SGLE

He also admted he was so sred people would fd out he was gay that he dated women, even havg sex wh some of them, which was, ultimately, what broke up his relatnship wh his dancer boyiend: "I broke his heart to the pot where he uldn't be wh me that way anymore and end . Lead sger L McKeown told filmmakers he had lived a secret gay life for more than 30 years, even keepg his pas om his wife of 25 years, Peko McKeown.

The band unter-sued for $25 ln and ultimately got to keep their name, wh the su beg settled out of 2006, Lance me out as gay on the ver of People magaze, and durg the group's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony 2018, he opened up about stgglg to accept his sexualy durg his time the band. "So many nights on stage, I'd see so many young, gay fans sgg their hearts out and I wanted so badly to let you know, I was you, " Lance said.

'I'M GAY AND A BOY BAND!'

So, I was like, 'I'm gay. "If you me out, if anyone knew you were gay, was a disaster and people really flipped out.

I felt like if anyone found out that I was gay, the rerd label would immediately drop and the fans would hate —the were all the crazy thgs that went through my head as a teenager. "The guys would hate me, and they would leave the group and be like 'We're not gog to be a group wh a gay guy. InstagramIn 2012's New Kids on the Block: Five Brothers and a Milln Sisters, Jonathan nfirmed his ex om NKOTB was due to his anxiety, and also hidg his sexualy, publicly g out as gay after he was accintally outed by '80s pop star and his ex-girliend Tiffany 2011.